Who makes the best gaming headset?

It seems as though there are more companies producing their own line of gaming headsets than ever before. In an effort to separate the junk from quality headsets, which gaming headsets are The Best in terms of audio quality, features, comfort and build quality?

 

Audio quality for what? Gaming? Music? Best compromise of both? Best positioning (which is different from the oft-mistaken soundstage)? Best mic?

Closed? Open? USB? Best with a soundcard? I mean there are lots of questions.


The "best" I can manage is:

- I drag the HE/V90 from the living room (though usually I use a Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 in this role on a PC). You could substitute a different energiser if you like.

- Plug it into a pair of the outs of the RME Fireface UFX (or in the case of the Tesla, directly into the headphone out of the Fireface)

- Which in turn is fed from a Creative Fatal1ty Champ - i.e. gaming audio is passed thru to the pro audio card. This just avoids cable-swapping when it comes to listening to gaming or music (Latency doesn't appear to be an issue if you set it up right). For this arrangement, I rate the Creative over the much-(over)hyped Asus STX, especially for positioning cues.

- Mic duties are handled by a Blue Mouse on an anglepoise stand, plugged into the Fireface.

- On the PC the default sound output device is the Fatal1ty, the default input device is the Fireface. This way any piece of pro audio / proper listening / non-gaming VoIP software with selectable output is able to separately address the Fireface for playback, but all games use the Fatal1ty.

 

The simple answer is that it depends on your budget.

• If you're talking about a budget of ~$80 - $130, then get yourself a pair of Corsair Vengeance 1500 or Logitech G35 (USB wired), or Corsair Vengeance 2000 or Logitech G930 (wireless).
  Those two model lines of gaming headsets tend to get the highest reviews when it comes to bang-for-your-buck. These are USB headsets specifically designed for PC gaming purposes.
  
  
  
• Your next major jump in audio quality comes at around $250+ minimum.
  Here, you're talking about taking audiophile-level headphones and using them for PC gaming purposes with some kind of external sound card (i.e. USB sound card, USB DAC, or a Dolby Headphone sound processor). Once you reach the +$250+ tier, you're already at the point of diminishing returns when it comes to audio intended for PC gaming.

It's also very important to note that the needs of a PC gamer will be different than the needs of an audiophile. An audiophile will prioritize things like neutral sound signature, soundstage, clarity, etc. They specifically want audio gear to give them the most faithful reproduction of 2.0-channel audio that they can get. An audiophile specifically does NOT want things like audio signal processing. Meanwhile, a PC gamer will prioritize things like surround sound effects and a "fun" representation of sound. These are usually achieved by things like bass-heavy sound signature and virtual surround sound processing. These are desirable qualities for a PC gamer, but highly undesirable for an audiophile.

This is why you don't really see anything worthwhile in the price gap between $130 - $250. A USB-based PC gaming headset that costs >$130 will tend to provide features that don't improve audio quality (e.g. fancy lighting effects). An audiophile-level setup that costs <$250 won't have the features that you want in PC gaming (e.g. virtual surround sound processing). So the biggest factor influencing audio quality, is whether your budget puts you in the ~$100 or ~$250+ pricing tier.

 

There are more variables than that to be honest, though it's a good generalisation.

It would, as I said, help if the OP is more specific.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking for a headset that is based on the following factors:

1) Comfort. I wear eyeglasses and often times headphones squeeze my temples digging the frames into my head causing discomfort and headaches.
2) Purpose is for gaming only; looking for positional audio (such as 7.1 surround), for FPS, MMO's, etc.
3) Must be wired. Too many horror stories about dropouts, intermittent connectivity with wireless.
4) Microphone is a must; background noise cancelling, etc. (although I'm not opposed to a separate clip on mic).
5) I prefer an over-the-ear headphone that won't make my ears sweat and pinch my head tightly.

I have a Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty soundcard (if that makes a difference). Budget is going to be $200-300.

What are everyone's thoughts on the Astro Gaming A40's with the mix amp?

 

I'll go with your points for the corsair headsets since I own some. Hopefully, someone who has tried the Logitech headsets or even better someone who has tries a lot of brands will chime in.

1) I have not tried the Logitech headsets, but I own both a Vengeance 2000 and a Vengeance 1500. It usually takes 4 hours of non stop usage before the headset starts being uncomfortable and I wear glasses too. The velour pads are a bonus since they breathe.
2) Both Vengeance headset have 7.1 positional audio, you'll have to turn it on manually, but it works. With the latest drivers, both headsets register as a 7.1 device in Windows if you configure them that way. It used to not be the case for the Vengeance 2000 when most reviews of it were written.
3) The Vengeance 2000 is wireless, but I haven't had dropped connections and it's 10 meters range as well as the advertised battery life are accurate.
4) None of my gaming friends have complained about the mic so far and the ambient noise has to be pretty loud for it to go through the mic.
5) Like I said before, velour pads are great to let your ears breathe, mine don't get wet like headsets using pleather would for me.

Both are USB headsets, so you can forget about using your soundcard, if the headset is USB, it means that it will have it's own DAC.

 

If you have the Fatal1ty card then you're IMO better off with a regular headset, or a headphone + mic. For me intelligibility is important so I think a decent mic is a must - but some people feel otherwise and think a $10 ZM-MIC1 is fine.

In terms of a headset, the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 or the Sennheiser PC 360 are the top runners. Personally I still like the MMX 300 (which is based on the now-discontinued DT 770 Premium) a lot, though some may say it's not great value - I'd concur with that to a certain degree, but it does have one of the best mics on a consumer-grade headset, as well as offering all-round respectable sound. However it's closed so can be stuffy.

In terms of a headphone + mic, well there's the Zalman mentioned above - which IMO is a seriously substandard solution, or there are a couple of potentially better (never tried'em) solutions such as the Antlion Modmic you can deploy with regular headphones. Then you can pick up the headphone of your choice in the budget.

 

Well, that makes it easy, then.

Get yourself a pair of Audio Technica A900x headphones ( link) for about $170 and call it a day. They are very comfortable to wear over long periods of time, and have the audio clarity for positional audio cues.

For mic support, get yourself a Zalman ZM-1 clip-on mic for about $9 ( link). Remember, a headset mic doesn't need to provide professional studio-level audio quality. The quality only needs to be "good enough" for in-game VoIP purposes. You'll also want to pick up some plastic zip ties if you don't have any, to secure the clip-on mic cable to your headphone cable:

Your Creative X-Fi sound card will provide the virtual surround sound support through its CMSS-3D algorithm. In the Creative Control Panel, set your sound device output to Headphones. In Windows Control Panel --> Sound, you want to set your speaker configuration to 5.1 or 7.1 speakers. What will happen is that your game (and Windows) will pass a 7.1-channel source audio signal to your sound card. Your sound card will do the necessary sound processing to convert that 7.1 source audio signal into 2-channel audio headphone mix with the correct virtual sound positioning queues.

The real star of the show here is the Astro MixAmp, which you can buy separately for about $120 - $140. If you already own a Creative Labs X-Fi card, then it's a waste of money.

The difference between a Creative X-Fi vs Astro MixAmp is the algorithm used to provide virtual surround sound (7.1-channel source audio --> 2.0 channel headphone mix). Creative Labs does it with an algorithm they call CMSS-3D Headphone. Astro MixAmp uses Dolby Headphone. If you were to compare them side-by-side, you may be able to tell a slight difference. I never was able to tell. I have owned both (Creative X-Fi and Astro MixAmp), and can say that the Astro MixAmp was a waste of money if you already own a Creative Labs X-Fi.

The Astro products are targeted more towards team gaming and LAN parties where everyone owns Astro gear (due to the ability to daisy-chain the Astro MixAmps for team chat), or for console gamers due to the fact that the Astro MixAmp is a standalone device that accepts digital / optical audio in.

 

I need to get out the mod mic review very soon, a magnetic clip on mic that you can attach to any pre-exsisting headphones to make them into a headset.

Id take this route or use an external mic before settling for the lesser variety/quality pre-fab headsets on the market.

My setup is one of my various headphones plugged into either my NuForce HDP for directly listening from the computer or into my Yamaha MG82CX mixer if I am doing a recording or using the mic.

My mic is the Blue Yeti Pro and goes into the mixer as well and its up on a mic stand to prevent desktop vibrations from reaching it.

The Mixer is going to the line in on my x-fi xtreme music sound card to feed the mic and any game audio or chat audio I want to it (2nd sound card dedicated for chat runs into the mixer)

 

Hmm. I have a Blue Yeti Pro mic as well, that work got for me.

How do you, personally, place the mic on your desk so that it doesn't get in the way? Do you leave it on your desk a few feet away, and point it in directional mode towards you?

 

I'm not sure of the mounting options for a Yeti but I use K&M 23850's with my Blue Mouses(Mice?) and Electro-Voice RE20's. You can get more involved / adjustable anglepoise stands but it works for me in terms of being able to swing the mic around.

Also IMO I think the DT770's are a much better experience gaming-wise than the A900x, which are better all-rounders. The closed Ultrasones with their weird staging actually also works well in that the 3D cues from DH, CMSS or THX becomes more like listening to a model of the scene, if that makes any sense.